A Summer's Breeze
by Cha-Cha Champion
Summary: A seriously injured and heavily scarred stallion wanders into Apploosa overnight and catches Braeburn's eye when he provokes a bar fight. Can he teach the stallion that not all ponies are ignorant like he believes and uncover his dark past? BraeburnxM/OC


Warning: This story contains possibly offensive language, mentioning of death and sex, awkward and budding love between two males and angsty OCness. If you cannot appreciate angsty OCs then you should probably leave, or flame it makes me feel like I'm doing my job when I receive flames. I do not own My Little Pony because if I did I wouldn't be writing fan fiction.

Apploosa Saloon is the place where everypony came every night after a long day of work. There was live music, beer and liquor a-plenty, "wenches" as the undignified would call them, and gambling. There normally was a fight once or twice a week so there were two large Earth Ponies, if ponies can be the size of bulldozers, standing near the entrance as "peace-keepers". Here, the law maent almost nothing; so long as nopony was killed or seriously injured, seriously injured being defined as a missing limb or gushing blood, it was fair game. To make things worse, it was happy hour when things went down that night; ANY shot of ANY liquor just one bit.

In an instant all the music, laughing, any source of noise stopped save for clop of a cloaked and hooded pony walking into the establishment. There were angry glares all around and one pony even began cracking his neck, but the hooded one gave an equally fierce glare back from behind the cover of his hood. The bright blue eyes scanned across the saloon and rested at a place at the counter, as the pony began walking the talking resumed but in hushed tones and accompanied with dirty looks. It sat at the counter and a silver right hoof pulled the hood down.

The stallion behind the hood would, most likely, be described as a walking bag of bones. His cheekbones and jawline were well-defined as well as his spine along the back of his neck. His mane is two-toned a canary yellow and light orange color, it was thrown sloppily on his head and it stuck out to the side as if he'd been sleeping on it. His ears were pointed straight in the air and the right one had three silver studs on the base of the ear. A few ponies snorted with disgust but one yellow earth pony raised his hat out of his eyes and gazed closer.

"Evenin, stranger." The bartender nervously said with a forced smile and not even looking him in the eyes.

"Good Evening, sir." He nodded; his voice was calm and cool, almost cold, but firm and full of confidence, "I'll take a pint of your strongest, please."

The white unicorn turned to get him his drink, grumbling slightly, and the new pony slammed his head into the counter top.

"Y'sure ya should be drinkin t'night?"

"I just walked 200 miles through a barren stretch of land." He groaned in exhaust. The bartender turned, grumbling slightly louder, and the new pony mumbled his thanks. He took a deep breath but it was forced out by a sharp pain in his side.

"Hey… yoo." A drunk earth pony easily four times his size growled at him, "We dun lak yer kand round her."

"And 'my kind' being… sickly ponies who wander out of the desert?" He nearly spit back. The massive horse tried to shove him from his seat but he didn't budge.

"Ah'm talking bout yoo faggots!" He boomed. The pony turned back to the bartender who had set the drink on the counter and shrugged his shoulders. The whole saloon had gone quiet, the music stopped playing and the angry argument about the "bogus checkmate" was halted. The ponies in a leg's reach of the two all too eagerly backed several feet away and the band threw nervous glances at each other.

"I assure you, my sexuality will not spoil your night. Besides, big bad stallions like you always turn out to be itty bitty foals in bed anywhom." He deadpanned and took a sip of his drink. A collective gasp swept across the saloon, the green eyed earth pony with the hat cracked a grin and stifled a giggle. The horse roared in anger and swung his right hoof. When it was several inches away from his cheek, a small 'pang' rung out and a shower of orange sparks flew from the offending hoof. The pangs and sparks increased in repetition as he nonchalantly took a gulp of the alcohol. He scrunched his face and gasped at the intensity of the drink.

"What in the name of the goddess IS that?" He gasped with a pained smile. The horse kept swinging his hooves while an equally large and drunk friend snatched a stool and attempted to bring it across the pony's head but gave himself a shower of splintered wood and orange sparks.

"It's a… er… family secret…" The unicorn's jaw was somewhere near the floor at this point. The pony glanced around the room, savouring the looks of shock, and his gaze stopped on green-eyes-leather-hat-and-smiling. The pony cracked a grin and looked back to the unicorn.

"So, how often do your windows break from somepony going through them?"

"Once 'er taise a month." The unicorn looked at him with a mixture of curiousity and worry. The pony quickly downed the rest of his drink and shook his head.

"Seriously, you should go into the liquor business." He smiled and left the appropriate amount of bits on the counter, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a problem that needs taking care of."

Before anypony knew what was happening, the stallion was no longer in the chair. With nothing blocking his hooves anymore, they met his friend's jaw with a sweet sweet crunch. There was a quick flash of light and the stallion was standing several feet away and the remains of a snapped horn glowing a pale orange at the top of his head., the same color as the sparks.

With his attacker stumbled and the unicorn standing tall, the lively music instantly resumed without missing a beat and cheers broke out across the room. He stepped back at the bone crunching buck that was meant for his head and chuckled. The horse roared in frustration once more and continued lashing out, all of which blue eyes either ducked away from or were deflected by a barrier.

"Whatsa matter?" Blue eyes sneered, "Big bad macho stallion can't hit the teeny weeny colt cuddler?"

Braeburn watched the fight in a mixture of both shock and awe, well shock and awe. Shock because nopony EVER had the nerve to fight Tank as he practically oozed alpha-male and "mess with me and I'll kill you". Awe because even though Tank had the muscle to rival his cousin Macintosh, this tiny sickly UNICORN was giving him a rum for his bits. Plus that awkward stare they shared, something about it sent shivers down his spine… he just wasn't sure what.

Blue eyes had gotten side-tracked and was buried muzzle deep in a particularly one-sided game of checkers. He was glaring at the board as the lone red was hopelessly outnumbered by the tyrants of the evil black empire. He was backed into a corner as the minions of the evil empire closed in with no hope of survival. This was his last stand, and he would take as many down with him as he possibly could. He steeled himself and charged, before the emperor knew what had happened all his minions had been vanquished and a lone shocked soldier stood amongst the carnage of the battlefield.

"Hah!" The elderly pegasus declared as blue eyes finished his game. He glanced back and noticed the horse getting tired so he jumped to the side. Unknown by both parties, Blue eyes had gotten his cloak on a very inconspicuous nail jutting out of a table; so when he leapt away, he suddenly felt his head meet the floor and a groan shook the crowd of onlookers. The pressure in his head disappeared and he anxiously looked up and saw a shiny new set of Neike's coming towards his head.

The pure adrenaline running through his veins, once again, saved him from a very nasty head wound and trip to the ER. He quickly ripped the cloak from his body and rolled several feet away. Everypony's jaws dropped to the floor, even tall-ugly-and-muscle, at the ghastly sight before them.

Just when Braeburn had thought he'd seen it all, he was proved wrong once again. It was very evident that Blue eyes had taken a serious beaten. In several places his golden coat lost its luster and was stained with dirt and… blood? The whole left hind leg was wrapped in a bandage that had once side stained a very deep crimson mixed in with brown. A long scar ran from around his neck and down to his flank where the cutie mark on his left was near gone, three browning maple leaves fluttering in the wind. Worst of all, his entire right foreleg was a different color than his body, it was a shiny silver-ish color but even that was losing its luster and was smudged with what was presumed to be mud and blood.

Tank was the first to respond, and with a loud laugh none the less, "Looks like the fag got inta fight wif 'is boyfriend an' lost!"

The line had been crossed, no longer was blue eyes out to make fun of Tank he needed to end it now. He barred his teeth and narrowed his eyes and Tank's head got to know the flooring a lot better. He stood tall and menacingly glared at the horse being forcefully held down by sheer magic.

"I look the way I do because of ignorant morons like YOU!" he bellowed. The entire crowd winced at the sudden increase in volume and thirty or so ponies had to make a mad scramble as to not be crushed by Tank's flying ragdoll body. The window and most of the wall that had been there before was now entirely demolished. Tank was now laying in an exhausted heap on the dirt street in a scattered mess of glass and wood in the shadow of a very furious unicorn.

"You will never speak like that again, UNDERSTAND!" He yelled, Tank nodded. Blue eyes growled once more and began walking off. Little did the brooding unicorn know, green eyes and leather hat was running after him.

"Nice going Breezy." He hissed and winced in pain at walking on his bandaged leg once more, "You open your wounds, use your magic, and escape death only to be stranded in a town of bigots in the middle of a blasted desert… CAN TODAY GET ANY WORSE!"

"Well, ya could be sleein in the cold and on an empty belly."

Breezy turned as fast as his leg would allow and was met with a pair of green eyes. He somewhat relaxed but would still be ready to defend himself if needed. Sensing his uneasiness, Braeburn shifted uncomfortably.

"Ya can calm down." He nervously laughed, "Ah ain't fixin ta hurtcha. Ah was comin t' see if ya needed… well, a place to stay and some supper."

"Thanks but…" Breezy looked over Braeburn and sure, he'd admit he was attractive, "Your not my type. I suggest getting outta here ASAP."

"Ah… we… Ah ain't tryin ta court ya." Braeburn turned a shade of red and was frozen on the spot, which made Breezy chuckle.

_Cute._

"Mah folks taught me ta help anypony if'n it looked like they need it an' buddy, you need it."

"No thanks." He frowned and began to walk away but was cut short by Braeburn.

"Now look here, ya 're comin with me." Braeburn glared, Breezy opened his mouth to say something but was cut short, "Ah could just get the sheriff ta arrest ya for Assault if it makes ya happy."

"Damn it all." He groaned and followed grinning Braeburn to who knows where.


End file.
